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Independent4.25
Niebla
Ramon Chicharron
Independent, 2024
Contrary to what its title might suggest, Niebla (mist, fog), the fourth album by Latin-Canadian artist Ramon Chicharron, brings plenty of sunshine and joy. Above all, it is a beautiful invitation to sing and dance with a child’s heart in communion with nature, and to forget our daily worries and sorrows.
Cumbia, Colombian champeta, Jamaican reggae—these are just some of the musical genres intertwined in a tropical electro-pop sound universe that distinguishes the musical offering of this Montreal artist of Colombian origin, who has won three World Music Album of the Year awards (ADISQ and Latin Awards Canada).
The album also bears the signature of producer Jean Massicotte, particularly in terms of the quality of the mixes between electronic sounds and Latin American music, using the physiological approach of an artist renowned for the clarity and fluidity of his recording technique.
The new album also features collaborations with some distinguished names in the Montreal scene. Notably, the Haitian-born artist Waahli on the jovial track “Menealo,” sung in Spanish and Haitian Creole to music that mixes Jamaican dembow, Colombian champeta and summery electronic sounds. The album closes with the exquisitely melancholy “Rio y Selva” (“River and Jungle”). It’s one of my favourites! It was produced in collaboration with singer-songwriter and celebrated guitarist Yves Desrosiers, known for his many collaborations with world-music greats such as Lhasa de Sela and Bïa.
(Translation by Gianmarco Segato)
